I would agree with and extend your remarks that humans tend to be slightly more adaptable than they are usually given credit.
A century ago it was utterly unthinkable that people would drink milk in any format other than quart glass jars delivered daily to a little airlock on the side of the house. My neighbors ancient brick house still has their milk delivery door! Now a days people get their gallon of antibiotics and growth hormones in plastic gallon jugs that last a week or so. Turned out to not be a big deal. Humans adapt, its just what we do.
Can't run a grid at night? Well, then don't. Or more likely a KWh at noon will be a 100th the cost of a KWh at midnight, maybe less. Not being able to run my clothes dryer at 3am sounds a lot like the astroturfers who claim the universe will end if they can't drive their SUV 800 miles daily so no one should be permitted to buy electric cars.
And in the other direction, technology is getting to the point where the required adaptation is a lot smaller.
The idea of conservation used to be combined with the idea of sacrifice. Save the planet by living in the dark, bundling up in sweaters, and exhausting yourself on a bicycle to get anywhere.
Today I light my house with LEDs that are nearly 10x more efficient than incandescents and should last just about forever. High efficiency HVAC and good insulation mean that the energy I expend on climate control is very small. I drive an electric car which is a fantastic way to get around. Some of these (like the electric car) are not good economic choices yet. Others are. But the ones that aren't are becoming so pretty quickly. That is the face of conservation now: great stuff that just happens to be efficient.
A century ago it was utterly unthinkable that people would drink milk in any format other than quart glass jars delivered daily to a little airlock on the side of the house. My neighbors ancient brick house still has their milk delivery door! Now a days people get their gallon of antibiotics and growth hormones in plastic gallon jugs that last a week or so. Turned out to not be a big deal. Humans adapt, its just what we do.
Can't run a grid at night? Well, then don't. Or more likely a KWh at noon will be a 100th the cost of a KWh at midnight, maybe less. Not being able to run my clothes dryer at 3am sounds a lot like the astroturfers who claim the universe will end if they can't drive their SUV 800 miles daily so no one should be permitted to buy electric cars.